


Retconned

by Arewegroot



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 12:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20435654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arewegroot/pseuds/Arewegroot
Summary: Steve “The King”, “The Hair” Harrington was never someone you were interested in no matter how much he flirted with you. He was also someone you never thought you would see at a comic book shop.





	Retconned

You had been on an okay standing of the hierarchy structure Hawkins High had. You were no Carol or Laurie, or Nancy Wheeler but you were higher than any of the band and drama nerds. So your high school life wasn't awful, especially since your real nerdy ways were hidden from the whole school.

Although, you weren't worried about anyone finding out about your job at _ Crimson Comics, _Hawkins smallest and only comic book store. You doubted that anyone from school would be caught dead being around the comic store.

You've been working at the shop since your sophomore year. Ever since then, _ Crimson _has had customers come in more frequently. It probably had something to do with the fact you were the only girl those neckbeards had any courage of asking out, but you like to think it's because you have fantastic customer service.

In all honesty, you couldn't have asked for a better job. You could deal with creepy guys asking you out because the pay was good, your boss was flexible with your classes that you were planning on taking at the community college after you graduated, and you really liked the kids that would come in whenever there was a new shipment of comics. Your absolute favorite customer was the Henderson boy and his group of friends. They always loudly greeted you when they came in and would ask for your critical opinion about what you thought about the newest issue of X-Men. 

—-

It was the beginning of your winter break, the middle school's Snow Ball having ended the semester, and you were flipping through the fourth and last issue of West Coast Avengers as you maned the shop all on your own. It was a slow day today, only having gotten two customers that came in that day who didn't even have the decency to buy something after trying to flirt with you for an hour. You usually didn't find yourself counting down the seconds to the end of your shift but as you were nearing the end of your comic you were dreading having to find another way to fight off your boredom. That was until the little bell that was attached to the front door chimed, alerting you to new customers. You were incredibly happy to see the familiar red and blue cap that belonged to no other but Dustin Henderson. Although your happiness was quickly replaced with disdain when instead of seeing four other very loud middle schoolers behind him, you were met with the sight of Steve Harrington. 

_ How the fuck did he found out about you working here? _

You knew precisely who Steve Harrington was because _ everyone _ knew who he was. You knew how much of an asshole he was. You've heard all the rumors about his escapades with Cindy M, Laurie, and Heather. You knew the type of people he liked to hang out with, and you also knew how unbelievably _ annoying _he could be.

For the half of your high school career, Steve Harrington had consistently bothered you with flirty comments and attempts to ask you out. It had been a little flattering the first time he had flirted with you and had asked you out because he was _ Steve Harrington, _king of all Hawkins High, but that had also been the reason why you had rejected him. You thought he was an absolute dick. So you had rejected him and had felt that that was the end of it all. 

You were wrong. For two years you found yourself rolling your eyes at every flirty word and cocky smile Harrington had sent your way. You met every one of his cheesy one-liners with a "drop dead, Harrington." You had started your freshmen year being at least a little annoyed by Steve Harrington's presence and by the end of your sophomore year, a ball of hatred had formed in the pit of your stomach. 

You were so grateful when the sophomore, Nancy Wheeler, had stolen Steve's attention away from you. Every time you saw them talking to each other in the hallways and sneaking out of the girls' restroom after a make-out session, you felt cheering. It was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen in your life. Junior year was the best year of your life (if you ignored the fact that Wills Byers came back from the dead).

You waited to see Steve turn to you and throw his smug look at you. You waited for him to turn on the charm that had everyone throwing himself at his feet. You expected to see Tommy H and Carol back at his side because of Steve's break up with Wheeler. You didn't see any of that. Instead, you saw Dustin grab the older teen's arm and dragged him towards alphabetized crates that held all of the comics, and much to your surprise you saw Steve Harrington pretend to be annoyed by this. 

You were so shocked you couldn't even manage to get the practiced greeting you had to say every time a customer came in out of your mouth. Dustin Henderson and Steve Harrington were two very different people from very different worlds that you thought would never meet, but here they were. Once they made it to the side of the store where you guys placed all of the less popular Marvel brand comics Dustin dropped his hold on Steve's arm and started to dig through the alphabetical crates.

"Alright, so first off," You heard Dustin say. "you need to know that there is a difference between Marvel and DC."

"Question," Steve said, a look of pure confusion on his face. "What is Marvel? What is DC? And why are they different?"

You couldn't help but snort at Harrington's ignorance. It caused both of them to finally turn around and realize that you were in the shop alongside them. When Dustin realized that it was you, he looked incredibly happy to see you while Steve looked as equally shocked as you felt about seeing him at _ Crimson Comics. _

"Hey, [Y/N]!" Dustin cheerfully greeted, giving you one of his classic grins. "You guys got anything new?

"Hey, Dustin," You said, not being able to stop yourself from grinning back at him. "yeah we got _ Superman _ 400 in October, and we got the new Kitty _ Pryde and Wolverine _ last month, and we got the last issue of _ West Coast Avengers. _"

You held out your copy of the comic for Dustin to take. "Do you wanna check it out?"

You laughed when Dustin let out an overly dramatic gasp and rushed to take the comic book. 

"Steve! Look, come here!" Dustin waved his hand, motioning for Steve to come closer. He didn't look up from the issue, so he didn't notice how Steve flicked his eyes towards you and hesitated before going over to him, but you did. 

He gave you one more nervous glance before he joined Dustin in checking out the comic. "What's up, buddy?"

"Okay so this is a Marvel comic, and these are some of the Avengers," Dustin said. He started to explain who each hero was and what their powers were, and to your utter disbelief, Steve began to get really into it.

He started asking questions about the limits of their powers. Steve asked how these people ended up being superheroes. Steve asked about who Dustin's favorite character was and listened intently to all of what this nerdy middle schooler was saying. You were absolutely baffled. This guy right in front of you wasn't the Steve Harrington you remembered, and you could feel your mind short-circuiting from it. You were so shocked that Dustin had called you name three times before you finally snapped out of it.

"Uh, yeah? Sorry, what?"

Dustin furrowed his brows, trying to do a quick analysis of your weird behavior but quickly decided to ignore that. He had more pressing matters at hand.

"I asked if you had any recommendations for my newbie friend right here," Dustin patted Steve's chest in that guy way of showing fondness, but it looked a lot more hilarious than cool in the way you knew Dustin had intended it to look like. 

That's when both Steve and yourself finally acknowledge each other, letting your eyes meet longer than two seconds. He looked nervous.

"Hey," Steve greeted, trying to sound a lot more confident than he really was.

"Hi," You said back, your voice cold with disdain. You gave Steve an unamused look before you looked back towards Dustin. Your whole person changing from a cold, hateful one to a happy, cheerful one that every customer service worker needed to master.

"So he doesn't know anything about comics?"

You hummed in thought when Dustin shook his head. "I think the best place for a newbie to start is with the classics. First of you should get him some Supermancomics seeing as it might be easier for him to understand since I'm pretty sure he's seen the movie. Right?" 

"Oh, yeah!" Steve nodded eagerly. "Totally. I made my parents get it for me when it came out on VHS."

"Okay, cool," You continued. "Then you really need to get Harrington to read some from Wonder Woman_ , _ and you _ absolutely _need to have him read Spider-Man."

Dustin snorted. "Obviously. Who do you think I am?"

"Good boy," You said to him before you pointed to the other side of the store. "The Superman comics are over there next to Han Solo cut out and we moved the Spider-Man comics under the USS Enterprise model."

"Thanks, [Y/N]!" Dustin yelled as he rushed to were you had pointed, leaving you and Steve Harrington behind. 

"I uh didn't know you worked here," Steve said. You knew that he was trying to make conversation, trying to not let this get even more awkward than what it already was. 

You weren't going to let him have what he wanted.

"Yeah, that was the point." You said, grabbing a random comic from the mini counter stand.

It was silent after that, and it was awkward, but you were determined not to give Steve any of your attention. It was your turn to make him uncomfortable, and he didn’t hold it against you. Steve remembered how he had treated you and how much of a stubborn dick he was. It wasn’t until he lost Nancy and started to hang out with Dustin and the rest of the kids did he realize how much of a real asshole he was. Steve knew that he deserved how rude you were treating him, and he also knew that he had to apologize.

"So…" Steve said after he couldn't handle another minute of awkward silence.

"The answer is no, Harrington," You said, not even bothering to let him finish his sentence. "The answer was no during our first two years of high school, and it is still no today."

"What?" Steve sputtered out. "No, no, no, I, okay I totally understand why you think I would try to ask you out."

"Oh, thank you so much for understanding."

"But," Steve continued through your sarcastic remark. "but [Y/N] that wasn't what I was going to say. I, look I actually want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for harassing you for so long. I was a dick and an asshole, and I just want to say that I am sorry."

For the third time that day, you were left shocked, absolutely speechless. You never thought that this would happen ever, the very idea that he would apologize because you didn't appreciate his "compliments" because you were just "overreacting." You didn't know what to say. Luckily you didn't have to figure out what to say because Dustin called Steve over to his side of the store to show him a comic he was a big fan of. Both of you silently thanked Dustin for the save.

They stayed in _ Crimson _for a while longer, laughing and talking. Dustin would show Steve comics he wanted him to read with nerdy excitement. Steve would point to weirdly drawn background characters and tell Dustin, “that’s how you look like.” They would bicker, tease, and shove each other just like brothers would. They both looked like they were having so much fun spending time together. 

It was sweet.

“We’re going to take these, [Y/N],” Dustin said, dumping all the comic books onto the counter. 

“Awesome,” You smiled as you started to check them out. As you were entering all of the comics’ prices into the register, your eye caught sight of the last issue of the West Coast Avengers. You couldn’t help but smile. You always knew there was a reason why Dustin was your favorite.

“Okay, that will be 11.25,” 

Dustin starts to go through his backpack, looking for his money, but Steve squeezes Dustin’s shoulder and pulls out his wallet.

“Don’t worry dude,” Steve said. “I’ve got this.”

Dustin grinned up at Steve, looking at him as if he hung all the stars in the sky. “Thanks, buddy! I’ll cover our lunch then!”

“Sounds like a plan,” Steve said, handing over a twenty to you. For some reason, a little part of you was pretty sure that Steve wouldn’t be letting Dustin pay for lunch either.

“Alright, thanks to you guys,” You said as you handed Steve back his change. “Make sure to come and visit us again.”

“Bye [Y/N], thanks,” Dustin waved goodbye after you had bagged all of the comics.

You watched the two of them walk in step with each other towards the door. Dustin and Steve were about to go through the door when some kind of feeling came over you. You don’t know why but something inside of you made you callout Steve’s name. Well, that was until your eyes met his. Steve looked back towards you, clearly confused by the fact that you had called out to him, and that’s when you realized the reason why you had called him back. You wanted to tell him that you forgive him. Sadly, the words couldn’t find their way from your brain to your mouth. He felt your cheeks warm up.

“It was uh nice to see you, Steve,” You said, running your hands nervously through your hair. “You’re…you’re welcome to come back and get any new issues if you like whatever Dustin got for you.”

You hoped that Steve would be able to understand what you had meant and based on the small smile and the rush of relief in Steve’s eyes, he did.

“Thanks, [Y/N]. It was nice to see you, too.”

Steve held up his hand in goodbye (which you returned) and followed Dustin out the door.

“[Y/N] is awesome,” Dustin said as he got into the passenger side of Steve’s car. “You should hang out with her. It’s weird that your only friends are middle schoolers.”

“Hey!” Steve exclaimed and flicked Dustin’s hat. “I have friends. I just choose to make sure you dipshits don’t get into any trouble…but maybe you’re right. She seems cool.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr as @ahoycapnsteve


End file.
